IoT will be next silver screen, says media exec

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Internet of Things could be the silver screen of the future, the platform for immersive entertainment. The far future idea was one of many ideas from a meeting of content creators and technologists on the Stanford campus here.

The event aimed to bring media producers together with Silicon Valley chip and software developers. All sides agreed entertainment is in rapid transition driven by mobile and Internet technologies.

For example, MIT researchers are working on creating a giant display based on a massive swarm of tiny drones each carrying an LED, hovering over a stadium. Others have created interactive walls and green screens such as one now in Times Square, New York.

“The notion of what’s the platform we can play on interactively is about to bust out,” said Peter Hirshberg, a long time entertainment executive speaking at the event hosted by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. “When we think of IoT and a world full of sensors and displays, the materials available for telling stories changes,” he said.

TV and other traditional media are already adapting to embrace new media such as social networks, said Hirshberg who talked about transmedia that will someday include so-called augmented cities.

“A key takeaway here is how do we continue to foster this dialog between content creators, technologists and engineers because we are living in a time of transformation and huge new opportunities,” said Fred Fuchs, a veteran movie and TV producer.